Vaio S sound quality

I just got a S 15" and I can't believe how poor and low the sound on this bad boy is. I really like the screen and specs on this lappy but I am not sure I can live with the sound. I don't really like wearing headphons... so that's out. Has anyone figured out a solution to the problem(including replacing the speakers(I know they are soldered to the MB))?
Thanks,
Steve

 

My nephew bought an Viao C notebook with a sandy bridge i5 cpu and the sound is really bad, but i have had a couple of Sony Notebooks over the years and i don't remember the sound quality being that bad before, or did all notebooks have bad sound quality back then, and other manufacturer`s have improved their notebook sound but not Sony.

Then again i had an Toshiba last week and the sound quality was bad, but nowhere as bad as that Vaio C, I returned it and bought a Samsung 5 Series and that has very good sound, it has JBL Speakers even has a little subwoofer, I had a dell with an AMD A6 APU and the sound quality from that was impressive for an £350 new notebook.

John.

 

I am not looking for audiophile quality sound... just good enough to watch a movie or the news... I had many, many laptops over the years and I can't believe hoe bad this is... it's tiny, hollow and barely audible... I really like the screen and features of it, does anyone know how at the very least increase the volume level or even how to replace the speakers?
Steve

 

I was also wondering if its accually possible to find some better speakers and solder off the old ones and solder back a better pair.
But im not sure if its even possible.
For me the issue aint really huge tbh.
I use headphones almost always and if not i use XBMC anyway and since that can boost the sound by ALOT athleast i can make the sound higher even if not better.
There is a small fix athleast that makes some diffrence:


- The speakers seem a bit quiet. Apparently (PM me whoever suggested this first) this can be improved by going to Control Panel -> Hardware and Sound -> Sounds -> Select Realtek High Definition Audio -> Configure -> Next -> Check the box "Front left and right" -> Next -> Finish. However, even after this they are not that loud.

 

when i got my s13p i noticed the sound was very quiet even at max levels. Then i turned on the Dolby Home Theater sound application that came with the laptop, and now it gets like 4-5 times louder. try turning on the Dolby Home Theater sound thingy

 

I have tried that already... Thanks.

 

I installed an audio driver meant for a completely different chip, but it gave me a 10 band EQ.

I raised all the bands up about 6 points and then adjusted them all and it didn't really sound bad at all, it was a definite improvement.

 

OK... let me know where to get it.
Thanks,
Steve

 

i still don have mine yet but i visited a local sony shop and the speaers are akin to the one on the back of my samsung galaxy s 2... but two of them. i is disappointing to see that they are so small and even the sound holes (like speed holes) are small. but they didnt seem to get really blown out when turned up so i could see that eq thing working. anyways there is the change to realtek in windows settings that i read about. and the realtek manager n my desktop has a really nice eq... maybe their drivers would work fine. (like what sony did with the nvidia drivers... they are probably modified... stock ones might offer more features.)

TRY THIS. before going through all that trouble, itunes has a built in eq, that only works when playing through itunes. try playing with it and see if it gets better. if it does look for a more permanent solution.

 

Hmm i when i enable the dolby it doesent change anything really.
The sound volume is still really low. Maby marginally higher.

 

Try SRS Audio Sandbox. It made a big difference on my Z2.

 

WOW thanks alot for that tip.
That made a HUGE diffrence in both sound level and quality. HUGE diffrence. After some tweeking with "Trusurround XT" preset the speakers sound just as good as any other laptop with good speakers.
It still dont come close to the sensation of a pair of headphones or real external speakers but laptopspeakers never do really.

 

Try the jazz preset (louder) and WOW@HD option, which gives you more control.

 

There are other options. Check these out: Compare Philips Notebook SoundBar SPA5210B/27 - Portable Speakers - CNET Reviews

 

Is the SRS Audio Sandbox a standalone application I have to startup with my computer or is it an invisible process that runs in the background?

 

the former... it starts up and does its own thing without any extra work.... there is a settings window that can be launched. it acts very similar to les say an anti virus software, it runs automatically and you don have to set it up each time... but it does act as a stand alone app.

 

All the solutions apart from windows bass boost (uninstall audio drivers, turn off full range, and see enhancements) use enough background cpu, even while silent, to negatively affect battery life and thermals

 

Well it cant be that much really.
Cant be talking about more then 5-10 minutes anyway.
And seriously improved sound is worth those minutes

 

Bass boost is the most improvement you can get - dynamically kills the highs+volume and raises the bass levels as necessary for a very acceptable sound

Anything else I've tried has cut the battery life by 30 mins+ and made the underside uncomfortable to keep on my lap heat-wise

 

30mins sounds really strange tbh.
What is this bass boost you are talking about? And how do one try it out?
Cos the problem tbh aint really that the bass is crap. Its that the sound is really low and just sound "unfulfilled"

 

Not sure how much facts there is behind the 30min statement cos the accuall process, in windows processes, when just normal surfing and no real sound is on, the cpu taken to the application is after 3h use still on 0,00 and the same on avrage.
So that its takeing 30min battery power extra even when ideling, cant be right. And the temperatures is just the same as always. And when looking on movies the cpu allocated to the application is still so low that it dont even move the meeter from 0,00 cpu power taken. And thats looking on all sound backround tasks not just the controll center for the SRS Audio Soundbox.

 

I can't find audio sandbox anywhere on the web. Could anyone that has a link handy post it? Thanks

 

It`s been renamed and updated to SRS Audio Essentials, you can download the free limited version see link below.

SRS Labs :: Audio Essentials Download, 1 PC License $29.99

John.

 

I also throw in my vote for SRS audio sandbox really opens up the soundstage.

Trial is on Cnet Downloads..

 

I was just reading the bios mod thread and a guy did say Dolby was eating up 7% CPU at idle... I haven't experienced this but maybe... just maybe there is something there.

Sent from my SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2

 

I havent seen dolby eating up anything, but dolby would sound poorly with headphones in.


I tried SRS and I didn't like it. I couldn't really tell if the sound was more round, but more importantly it was not louder. I am actually quite shocked how poor the speakers are.

The speakers are literally twice as bad as on my iphone. its a shame because I like to take my laptop out in the kitchen, start cooking while listening to music or podcasts, but i just cant because of the low volume. its so low. lots of youtube videos are too low as well.


I would love to try some different drivers or alternatives. its really strange that the sound is so poor.

 

I tried SRS (free) and just like you I didn't think there was any improvement in the volume level of this laptop...

 

If you open up the case and see the speakers, you'll realise that they are just too puny to produce decent sound. You can tweak all you like, but it is like trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. The external speakers that I linked to in my previous post in this thread seem to suggest the only route to decent sound from a VAIO nowadays.

It wasn't always like this. I have an ancient VAIO VGN-S2 (still working; still in daily use) which boasts quite respectable sound from the inbuilt speakers. Compared to the miserable speakers in my VPCZ1, the VGN-S2's speakers sound terrific.

 

You know,

this machine has been nothing but a blessing to me, but now that I have used it for 2 months I really wish I had known this. Sound is half our senses. To produce worse sound than a tiny <4 inch phone, is crazy.

If I remember correctly, weren't Sony famous for great sound quality back in the day? Sony was like Apple of yesteryears.


The Macbook Pro has great sound. Really high volume.

 

I am dissappointed in the speaker SQ as well. It's worst then my playbook tablet. But I normally wear headphones so that should not be a problem right? Wrong! The headphone jack is very tight and requires a bit of force to insert and remove the cable.

 

This is a message send to me by heywhitmarsh:
"Hey sorry for the delay in response i totally missed this message.

Go to this site http://support.asus.com/download/dow...del=M5A99X+EVO

Select windows 7 64bit, and then under audio there will be two driver downloads

Download the OLDER one that is dated "2011.01.07"

Extract it and run the asussetup.exe and just follow the onscren prompts.

for some reason unknown to me the realtek audio manager does not get installed, but all the options are available in the sound section of the windows control panel under the enhancements tab. "

Folks this really works... you have to unistall the Dolby program and remember to raise the EQ levels...
Thanks heywhitmarsh +rep.

 

what levels are you using?

also link is broken

 

Try the link again... same thing happened to me, it worked on the 3rd try.
I simply maxed out the EQ just to see how loud it got and for the 1st time I could hear the CNET video over the TV in the same room.In fact I even lowered the volume a bit... go figure.

 

Link is actually broken because you pasted it with "...". Can you repost?

 

Sorry here:
Drivers and Download (M5A99X EVO) [Official Site - Main Page]

 

Thanks!
Yup, definitely an improvement over the stock!

+Rep to heywhitmarsh

 

Best method for good sound (movies mostly) is installing the lenovo dolby v4 with equalizer and using movie mode with eq bands at full and volume leveler/dialogue enhancer at max. this will distort sq via headphones but for the inbuilt speakers it will make sounds (esp. voices) in movies alot louder than xloud.

 

Wow the asus drivers where amasing.
The sound is really loud now and the quality really nice.
Thanks for that tip!

 

I uninstalled dolby and tried the asus drivers. Now what settings do I change and where? I see I now have "enhancements." Where should I change things?

Are you guys talking about going to "Equalizer" and then making a custom setting maxing everything out?

 

Here are the steps if you are still having problems... max is a profile I created... You can pick any of the choices from the drop down menue and play with the sliders till you are happy...
Good luck.

 

Most interesting. Does anyone know if this will work on a VPCZ1?

 

You are talking the speakers quality here, not exactly the sound as a such. Thus, the thread title is misleading.

 

I don't really understand why you posted that... but headphone sound quality was mentioned... I used the same method used for he speakers to create an eq for the headphones that made them sound better too.

Sent from my SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2

 

Not sure about this. I got rid of the crappy Sony Dolby software and just returned to the stock sound driver. The sound both from my Sony headphones and my 2.1 JBL's is excellent. The on-board speakers are still quiet and crappy but I just don't use them anymore.

 

Hmm i just did a reinstall of W7 and did not install any of the audio software from sony, im just using whatever stock W7 audio drivers are... speakers sound fine for a laptop, obviously no base but i can hear movies clearly from 20-25 feet away.

 

Do the Z's have the same lack of quality speakers as the S, and do all S's have these quality speakers?

 

same afaik

 

Im kinda curiuos what db you guys expect from laptop speakers

I have to turn my S15 speakers down when I watch a movie. obviously not much base to speak off but they are plenty loud.

 

WOW .. It sound so goood now .. I have to tune down the trebe a bit
with music ..
Bass for movies is great ... never experient this good sound from a laptop ...[ of couse ..with a head phone ]

Thanks Steve P .

 

My Blackberry Bold had a "puny" speaker which was extremely loud and bassy as well.